Import your directory from a spreadsheet

If your church already keeps its directory in a spreadsheet, you can bring it all in at once. Nothing is saved until you’ve seen a preview, and you can undo the import for 14 days.

Before you start

• Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file. In Excel or Google Sheets, choose File → Save As (or Download) → CSV. An Excel or Numbers file won’t work until it’s saved as CSV.
• The first row should hold the column headings.
• One row per person works best. One row per family (“Doe, John & Mary”) works too.
• Moving from Tithely, Breeze or Planning Center? Export your people list as a CSV. Their columns are recognized and families are kept together.

Steps

1. Open Administration → Import the directory.
2. Choose your spreadsheet. Pick your CSV file. You’ll see how many rows were found.
3. Check the columns. Each column has a best guess beside it, like First name, Last name, Email, Cell phone, Street address or Birthday. Change any that are wrong. Choose Don’t import for columns you want to skip.
4. Preview. You’ll see how many households, people and children will be added, and the first families listed. Open things to check to see rows that were skipped or details that couldn’t be read.
5. Decide about sharing. The box Show these families’ addresses, phone numbers, emails and birthdays in the member directory starts off. Leave it off unless your old directory already shared these with members. Families can change what they share after they sign in. Names always show to approved members.
6. Tap Add … households to the directory.

When it’s done, tap Open the directory to look through the families. Next, you can invite your directory to sign in.

Undo an import

At the top of the page, Last import shows your most recent import. Tap Undo this import, then tap again to confirm. This removes every household from that import.

You can only undo the most recent import, within 14 days, and only if nobody from it has signed in yet. After that, remove households one at a time. See Add and update households.

If something goes wrong

• “That’s an Excel or Numbers file.” Open it, save it as CSV, and choose the CSV file instead.
• “No rows were found under the headings.” Check that the first row holds the column headings and the people start on row 2.
• The preview asks which column holds last names. Set one column to Last name or Family or household name.
• “Grouped by last name only.” Two families with the same last name may have been put together. Add an address or household number column, or fix them afterward in Members & households.
• I imported the same file twice. Importing always adds new households; it doesn’t update ones already there. Use Undo this import on the second one.